#challennge

I have a complicated question. A ridiculously complicated question with an answer which was created by a convoluted thought process.

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Day 3, panda

College is one of the most formative times of your life. It's a time of learning, exploration and, many times, dread for the parents of students who head off to strike out on their (kind of) own for the first time.

Will they make the "right" choices? Will they kill themselves staying up too late, eating only Top Ramen and running around with "questionable friends"? 

For Christian (or otherwise religious) parents I think this is an especially hard time. Letting go of their children and sending them off into the real world is a make it or break it moment. 

It's the first time, for many of us private school education, highly watched, guarded, protected, monitored (you get the point) students to be in a place where we make our own decisions and learn how to really defend them. 

When I went to college I was pissed off at the world. At that point I did consider myself a Christian, but I was so angry from family issues and seemingly being "replaced" at home that I really just wanted to watch the world burn. Sounds dramatic? Welcome to my life. 

But this isn't a story of how Jesus came to me in a dream and changed my life (I think that would be fucking awesome, though), saving me and turning me toward the church. 

It's more a story about how my arrogant ass was hit over the head by questioning students, professors and friends who asked me WHY I chose to label myself as a Christian? I had to actually think about it for the first time. I wasn't constantly surrounded by my church buddies who generally always agreed with me. And it wasn't ok anymore to just say 'Christian' and pass through the conversation. I had to answer WHY? 

Long story short, it took me traveling half way around the world with a group of friends, stepping back and analyzing my life, and really diving into my beliefs before I could walk away from college and say that...wait for it... college made me a STRONGER Christian. 

Not because I was made holy on the sidewalk, but because I was questioned, challenged and met some awesome and crazy people who I had ridiculously long, fantastically late debates and discussion with. They pushed me to think outside the box and really establish or walk away from my faith. 

I made my choice, and many of my friends made theirs. We all walked away from college a little different. We were changed, and made more ourselves, regardless of the decision. We are not broken because some of us decided Atheistic, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or frolic with the unicorn ideals were the direction we wanted to travel. But we were informed, challenged and then given the opportunity to make our choices. OUR CHOICES. And I think that's beautiful, no matter what they were.

Because I don't think life is a journey about finding the perfect path. I think it's a challenge to find ourselves and then pick one.

-E

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